ING Group (NYSE:ING) executives used the bank’s fourth-quarter 2025 earnings call to highlight what CEO Steven van Rijswijk described as “another year of outstanding commercial growth and financial performance,” supported by customer expansion, strong lending momentum, and continued focus on cost discipline and capital returns. The bank also introduced updated outlook targets for 2026 and raised expectations for 2027.
Customer growth and balance sheet momentum
Management pointed to continued commercial momentum in the fourth quarter, including the addition of more than 350,000 mobile primary customers. For the full year, ING said it added over 1 million mobile primary customers, which the CEO said was in line with targets previously set at the company’s Capital Markets Day.
Deposits rose by €38.1 billion in 2025, or 5.5%, with retail banking contributing €11.3 billion in the fourth quarter. Wholesale banking posted a small net outflow during the quarter, which management attributed largely to lower short-term balances in cash pooling activities.
Income drivers: net interest and fees
ING reported commercial net interest income (NII) of €15.3 billion for 2025, supported by balance growth that largely offset what management characterized as expected margin normalization. In the fourth quarter, commercial NII rose by more than €100 million quarter-over-quarter and was nearly 5% higher than a year earlier, according to the CFO. Lending NII increased by €75 million in the quarter, helped by volume growth and a one-basis-point improvement in lending margin to 126 basis points, while liability NII increased by €30 million amid sustained retail volume growth and higher cash pooling and payments and cash management results in wholesale banking.
Fee income remained a key theme. Management said fees increased 15% year-over-year in 2025 and now represent about 20% of total income. Fourth-quarter fee income rose 22% from the prior year; excluding a €66 million one-off benefit in Germany, fee growth was 17%. The CFO highlighted strength in insurance fees, daily banking fees, and investment products, with investment-related metrics including 9% customer growth, 16% growth in assets under management (about half from net inflows), and 22% more trades.
All other income was described as supported by continued strong results in financial markets, while treasury income was pressured by lower results from foreign currency hedging. For 2026 planning, management said treasury hedging income is expected to be lower given a smaller interest rate differential between the euro and currencies such as the U.S. dollar and Turkish lira.
Costs, efficiency, and restructuring actions
ING leadership emphasized cost discipline alongside investment in growth and technology. The CEO pointed to increased automation in customer journeys and the rollout of a chatbot in seven retail markets, which management said improved service and reduced the need for human support. ING also cited improving efficiency metrics, including an FTE over customer balances ratio that has improved by more than 7% since 2023.
In the fourth quarter, expenses (excluding regulatory costs and incidental items) decreased slightly year-over-year. The CFO attributed the decline to structural savings from previous restructuring and VAT refunds recognized in the quarter, which more than offset wage inflation and investments in customer acquisition and product development. Incidental items were largely tied to restructuring provisions for planned FTE reductions in corporate staff and retail banking; management said these measures are expected to generate approximately €100 million in annualized cost savings once implemented.
Executives also discussed the role of AI and GenAI in improving operational leverage. The CEO outlined five focus areas—contact centers, IT coding, lending, personalized marketing, and know-your-customer processes—and said ING is seeing both customer experience improvements and operational benefits, such as higher straight-through processing in onboarding and increased end-to-end mortgage approvals.
Capital generation, distributions, and risk
ING said it generated more than €6.3 billion in net profit in 2025, contributing nearly two percentage points to its CET1 ratio. Management reiterated a 50% payout policy, stating that 50% of net profit is distributed as a regular cash dividend. The bank also announced additional distributions totaling €3.6 billion and noted that a share buyback program announced in November is underway and expected to complete in April 2026. ING also paid €500 million in cash in January, which management said helped meet a cash hurdle for the year, finalized at €3.3 billion.
For credit quality, fourth-quarter risk costs were €365 million, equal to 20 basis points of average customer lending, which management said was in line with a through-the-cycle average. Net additions to Stage 3 provisions were €389 million, driven mainly by individual Stage 3 provisioning for new and existing files in wholesale banking, partly offset by releases due to repayments, secondary market sales, and structural improvements. Stage 1 and Stage 2 provisions saw a net release of €24 million reflecting partial releases of overlays and updated macroeconomic forecasts.
The CET1 ratio declined quarter-over-quarter, which the CFO attributed to a €1.6 billion distribution partially offset by quarterly net profit and an increase in risk-weighted assets. Management highlighted the capital benefit of two significant risk transfer (SRT) transactions executed in November and said it expects to continue SRT activity, with the CEO indicating a potential additional 15–20 basis points positive impact on CET1 in 2026.
Updated outlook for 2026 and upgraded targets for 2027
For 2026, ING guided to total income of around €24 billion, supported by continued volume growth and expected fee income growth of 5%–10%. The bank projected total operating expenses (excluding incidentals) of €12.6 billion–€12.8 billion. Management said it will manage the CET1 ratio around a target of about 13%.
ING also said it will transition from return on equity to return on tangible equity. For 2026, it expects ROE of 14% and ROTE above 14%, noting a roughly 40-basis-point difference between the two metrics in 2025.
Looking ahead, ING raised its 2027 outlook, now expecting total income to exceed €25 billion, with fee income expected to exceed €5 billion. The bank provided a “hard” cost outlook (excluding incidentals) of around €13 billion and said this translates into ROE of 15% and ROTE of more than 15%.
The call also marked the CFO’s final analyst presentation before his departure, with management acknowledging Tanate Phutrakul’s tenure and noting he will remain with the company until the annual general meeting in April.
About ING Group (NYSE:ING)
ING Group N.V. is a Dutch multinational financial services company headquartered in Amsterdam. Formed through the consolidation of Dutch financial businesses, ING operates as a banking and financial services group that serves retail, small and medium-sized enterprises, large corporates and institutional clients. The company is organized under a two-tier governance model common in the Netherlands, with an Executive Board responsible for day-to-day management and a Supervisory Board providing oversight.
ING’s principal activities include retail and direct banking, commercial and wholesale banking, corporate lending, transaction services and cash management, and a range of investment and savings products.
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